book review: america's racial karma by larry ward
04 Mar 2022
America’s Racial Karma: An Invitation to Heal by Larry Ward
What are the main ideas?
- this is the wheel of america’s racial karma:
- source - the wheel of america’s racial karma has five stages: intention, manifestation, transmission, retribution, continuation.
- intention is the seed, the energy that motivates the system of racist itself. the intentions of racism are fear and greed. fear of other and greed for material resources. these combine to create structures of exclusion and theft/extraction.
- manifestation is the intention seeping into the mind, into the consciousness. racism’s intention manifests in the mind as white supremacy.
- transmission is the manifestation brought into reality with thought, speech, and behavior/actions. when white supremacist consciousness transmits, it shows up in the common ways we see white supremacy in the world. one way ward names this is “white supremacy became the defining criteria for self-worth, accumulating wealth and power through subjugating others and the natural word.” but, as ward names, transmission is stage three of the wheel, not the first as many mistakenly believe.
- retribution is the process of transmission creating what it must create. it is the consequences of our thoughts, words, and actions. but it is not an outsized response, as is commonly understood. retribution is not escalation. it is just what was put out, returning.
- racism’s retribution is trauma. one way to tend to that trauma is to be present with it and grieve what was lost in its creation.
- continuation is what happens if the wheel is not disrupted. things in motion will stay in motion unless otherwise interrupted. as retribution unfolds, without interruption, the intention will be restrengthened as apparent benefits of the system accrue for people who will then fight tooth and tail to prevent anyone from changing the cycle.
- grieving racial trauma is “ a gateway to healing america’s racial karma.”
- buddhism, in its orientation towards strengthening the connection between the body and mind, has the possibility, if we let it, to disrupt the wheel of racial karma. in order for that to happen we must observe the seeds growing in our selves and be with them long enough to see their fruitlessness. then, we can detach from their manifestation and engage in a true human way, a way that recognizes we are all connected. “the purpose of being alive is to discover we are not separate.”
- america takes great pride in its lack of mercy. we love that we show no mercy. however, in order to break the wheel, we must show mercy, first to ourselves and then to each other.
- “Healing takes time. When you cut off a fan, it keeps running for a while before it stops because of its previous momentum. In the same way, the turning of the racial karma wheel may keep going, but when we cut off the fuel to it–when we stop feeding it with hatred and instead, by nourishing our self-love, our self-compassion, and our joy, this karma will end and our society will change.”
If I implemented one idea from this book right now, which one would it be?
remember the original seeds of racism. as toni morrison said, “the very serious function of racism… is distraction.” racism is a great lie that justifies theft.
How would I describe the book to a friend?
i don’t even know if i could. at first when i read this book, i was deeply lost. eventually i realized i was reading it with the wrong eyes. i was trying to read this book like most books produced by the publishing industry. but, compared to this book, those books are fluffy, filled with words to make clarity come most easily. but, maybe unsurprisingly, each sentence of this book is meant to be digested slowly, mindfully even. moving too quickly from one sentence to the next, created confusion. moving slowly, endeavoring to deeply understand each sentence, opened up lots.
anyway, this book is a tiny tome containing years worth of practice insights, all oriented towards understanding the root and process of racism in order to disrupt it in service of all beings. in some ways, i think this book defies description and summary. i will probably need to re-read this at least twice to fully integrate what ward is bringing here with it.
reminder: book review structure
words / writing / post-processing
699w / 26min / 6min